No more tax dollars for nuclear power

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I strongly urge our elected representatives to move our country away from nuclear power and toward safe and sustainable forms of energy. We have seen repeatedly that corporations value their income stream over public safety. Rubber-stamping, industry-friendly regulators are complicit and cannot be trusted to protect public safety. This has recently been true of the banking industry, food processing, mining and oil drilling. As reported last month in the Cape Cod Times, the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth is the same faulty design (GE Mark 1) that is currently leaking radiation and sits on the edge of meltdown in Japan.

ABC News also reported last month that 3 GE scientists resigned in the 1970s over their concerns about the Mark 1’s faulty containment leading to catastrophic failure. Also reported was that the NRC expressed similar concerns in 1985.

The tax money that is currently being handed out to the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries should all be redirected toward increasing research and use of solar, wind, wave and geothermal power. If we invest in these technologies the way that we have thrown money at the fossil fuel and nuclear industries, then we can move toward a safer and more secure world for ourselves and children. In light of the devastation that fossil fuels and nuclear power is currently causing worldwide, continuing to fund these industries is putting corporate profits ahead of human health and safety.

Marc Pelletier
Jamaica Plain

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